A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Strikes A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official informed. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they treated a total of five people, and transferred three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and head pain. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the newest example of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers saying that climate change is a major factor.

There were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the official noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders reported they got a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more frequent - and more severe.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that currently occur around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing disturbed air apply more than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.